Samson and the Samson School. Samson Ben Abraham of Sens
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Samson Samson ben Joseph THE .IE WISH ENCYCLOPEDIA arose ami clashiTl against one anolliur so that tliey did not slavishly submit to tradition, nor did he con- " could l)c licard for a lilve distauco (Lev. R. viii. 2). sider his opinions irrefutable. If my opinion does He was so strong tiiat lie could uplift not agree with yours, reject it," lie once remarked His I wo mountains and rub tlieni togetluT C'.AIordekai," on Hul. viii. 718). In his love for (ili. Strength, like two clods of oarlli ; Sotalj 91(). truth he once revoked a former decision of liis own yi't liis superhuman strength, like ("OrZarua"," ii. 17.")); and with great Goliath's, brought wo >ipon its possessor (Eccl. H. His 'Views, reserve he decided a.cainst the views i., end). In licentiousness ho is compared wilh of R. Tarn (" Morde'kai," I.e. p. 733) -Vmnon and Ziuiri, both of whom were punished for and against those of his teacher Isaac ben Samuel Iheir sins (Lev. R. xxiii. 9). Samson's eyes were put (ih. Pes. ii. iJ.'iC). But he .showed himself very intol- out because he had " followed them " too often (Sotah erant toward the Karaites, whom he looked u|ion as I.e.). When Samson was thirsty (conip. Judges xv. heathens with whom Israelites shoidd neither in- 18-19) God caused a well of water to spring from his termarry nor drink wine. teeth (Gen. 1{. /.<•. g 18). Samson si<led with the adversaries of Maimonides In the twenty years during which Samson judged in their polemics. With lle'ir ben Todros ha-Levi Israel (conip. Judges xv. 'iO, xvi. 31) he never re- Abulafia lie kept up a lively correspondence; (juired tin- least service from an Israelite (Num. R. through Anit.Mi.vM ben N.\tii.\n lia-'i'arhi. he sent i.\. 2.")), and he piously refrained from taking the an answer to the letter which Abnialiahad addressed name of God in vain. As soon, therefore, as he told to the rabbis of Lune! and Toledo, and said, "I did DelilahUiat he wasa Nazarite of God(comp. Judges not come to refute the great lion after his death." xvi. 17) she immediately knew that ho had spoken But. like Abulafia. he condemned Maimonides' ra- the truth (Sotah /.<•). When he pulled down the tionalistic views on bodily resurrection jind Tal- temple of Da.-ron and killed himself and the Philis- niudic haggadah: he likewise sided with Abulafia tines (coinp. Judges I.e. verse 30) the structure fell in his objection to some halakic views of Maimoni- backward, so that he was not crushed, his family des. and reproached the last-named for not having being thus enabled to find his body and to bury it indicated the Talmudic sources lin his " Mishneh in tlie tomb of his father (Gen. R. I.e. § 19). Toiah." But later on they quarreled because Abu- Even in the Talniudic period many seem to have lafia was ottcuded by some of Samson's remarks. denied that Samson was a historic figure; he was Samson refers to Saadia Gaon, whose works he apparently regarded as a purely mythological per- knew not through Judah Tibbon's Hebrew trans- sonage. A refutation of this heresy is attempted lation, but jirobably through extracts made for him by the Talmud (B. B. I.e.), which gives the name of by Abraham ben Nathan. his mother, and states that he had a.sister also, named In eonseciuence of the persecution of the .Jews by "Nishyan" or "Nashyan " (variant reading. p't'J: Poiie Innocent III. (1 198-121(i). Samson, joining 300 this apparently is the meaning of the passage in English and French rabbis, emigrated to Palestine question, despite the somewhat unsatisfactory ex- about 1211. For some years he lived planation of Rashi). Migrates in Jerusalem, hence he is designated w. n. 5. Z. L. to "the Jernsalemite" ("SeMaG." Pro- Palestine, liibitions. 6.5, 111 ; Precepts, 48). As SAMSON AND THE SAMSON SCHOOL. mentioned above, he died at Acre See Wol.KKM'.VlTKI,. (Aeco), and he was buried at the fool of Mount SAMSON BEN ABRAHAM OF SENS Carmel. (KaSHBa or HaRaSH of ]'JN-J') = French tosii- Besides tosafot, many of which he composed under list : born about 11.">U; dird at Acre about 1230. His the direction of his teacher Isaac ben Samuel, Sam- birthplace was probably Falaise, Calvados, where son wrote a commentary on that part of the iMish- lived his gnuidfather, the tosiitist Samson ben Jo- nah not treated in the Babylonian Talmud, namely, sc|)li, called "the Elder." Samson ben Abraham was t lie orders Zcra'im and Tohorot with the exception designated also "tlii! Prince of Sens." He received of the tractates Berakot and Niddah. He fre- instruction from Rabbenu Tain (d. 1171) at Troyes quently refers therein to the Palestinian Talmu<l, to and from David ben Kalonymus of Mlinzenberg which he devoted more attention than any of his while the latter was Tarn's pupil, and for ten years predecessors or contemporaries, and to the older attende<l the school of Rabbi Isaac ben Samuel ha- compilations Tosefta, Mekilta. Sifra, and Sifre, and Zaken of Dampierre, after whose death he took he tries to reconcile the discrepancies between them charge of the school of Sens. Asheri says of him and the Mishnah. He refers to Nathan ben Jchiel, that after R. Tarn and Isjiac ben Samuel he exer- to Rashi, and other authorities, but never mentions cised the greatest intluence upon Talinudical studies Maimonides' commentary, which he probably did in France and in Germany during the thirteenth not know (see Tos. Yoni-Tob on JIaksh. v. 10). A centurj'. Joseph Colon declares that Isaac ben Sam- revised edition which he prep.ired was not printed. uel. Judali Sir Leon of Paris, and Samson ben According to Jacob ben Aksai. Samson wrote also Abraham formed the three stron.g pillars of the commentaries on Shekalim. 'Eduyot, Mi<ldot, and northern French school. Samson's tosafot. abridged Kinnim, but none of them is extant. The tosafot by Eliezer of Touques, are the principal sources for of Sens on 'Eduyot. published under the title " 'Edut the interpretation of the Talmud. Ne'enianah " (De.ssau, 1813), are wrongly attributed Reing recognized as a high authority, Samson was to him. frecpiently consulted upon religious and ritual ques- He further Avrote a commentary on the Sifra; for tions: and most of Ins decisions were accepted. He this, besides other older w'orks, he utilized the "; THE JKWI8H ENCYCLOPEDIA Samson Samson ben Joseph comnipnUiry of Abraham ben David of Posquieres This same edition, which is poorly edited, likewise (RalJaD). which lie quotes under the desisnation contains the "Otiyyot de-Rabbi 'Akiba" and vari- "sages of Lunel," '"sages of the Pro- ous cabalistic notes on the form of the letters. His venre," without mentioning the au- According to Azulai ("Shem ha-Gedolim," ii. Writings. thor'sname. An inadequate edition of 1!>). the name "Baruk sbe-Ainar" became hereditary " Samson's commentary, the manuscript in the family : and .loseph Caro in his Bet Yosef of wliioli is in the Bndk-ian Library at OxfonL was (Orah Hayyim, p. S7) mentions a certain R. Isaac publislied at Warsaw in 1866. As Samson therein Baruk she-Amar, probably a descendant of Samson. numerous Pentateuchal passages, it was er- explains BiBMOr.R.iPHV : ZuDZ. Z. (J. p. 209 ; St«lnsc)iDeider. Cat. Bmll. roneously supposed that he had written a commen- col. 2tm. w. li. M. F. tary on the Pentateuch. He wrote also a few litur- gical poems, and sometimes used rime in his letters. SAMSON BEN ISAAC OF CHINON : French Of Samson's father, Abraham, Me'ir Abidafia Talmudist: lived at Chinon between 1260 and 1330. speaks as a pious, saintly, and noble man. Samson's In Talmudic literature he is generallj- called after brother, Isaac of Dampierre (KIBA or RIZBA), his native place, Chinon (Hebr. pj'p). and sometimes called also Isaac the Younger to distinguish him by the abbreviation MaHaRShaK. He was a con- from his teacher Isaac the Elder (Isaac ben Samuel), temporaiy of Perez Kohen Gerondi, who, as reported whom be succeeded as principal of the school of by Isaac ben Shesbet, declared Samson to be the Dampierre, is also one of the prominent tosafists. greatest rabbinical authority of his time (Responsa, He wrote, too, some liturgical poems and a commen- No. 157). tary on the Pcntateu(-h He died about 1210. and Samson was the author of the following works: Samson attended bis funeral. Both brothers are (1) "Sefer Keritut" (Constantinople, 1.515). a meth- frequently mentioned in "Or Zarua," " Jlordekai," odology of the Talmud divided into five parts: "Orhot Hayyim." "SeMaG," "Semak," "Sefer ha- (rt) "Bet Jliddot." treating of the thirteen rules r)f Yashar," "Kol Bo," "Shaare Dura," "Haggabot R. Ishmael; (*) "Bet ha Mikdasli." on the rules for Maimuniyyot," "Terumat ha-Deshen," and similar deductions by analogy and conclusions a fortiori: works, and by Asher ben .Tehieland Melrof Hothen- (c) "Netibot 'Olam." cimtainjng explanations of the burg. In his " Milhamot Adonai " Abraham ben Mai- thirty two rules of R. Eliezer ben Jose ha-Gelili; mon refers to Samson's presence in Acre and to his (d) " Yemot 'Olam," giving the names of the Tau- attacks on Maimonides (pp. 16, IT). A son of Sam- naim and Amoraim. and setting forth a method for son. Jacob, WHS buried at the foot of Mount Tabor: deciding Detween the contrary opinions of two doc- a grandson. Solomon, who lived at Acre about tors; (<) " Leshon Liminudim," explanations of cer- 1260.